About Us

The Vancity Hot Jazz Society is a non-profit organization, run by a fantastic board of directors, striving to encourage and promote traditional live hot jazz music in dance friendly spaces in Vancouver, BC. We currently organize the weekly Hot Jazz Jam with live hot jazz music, jam sessions, and dancing.

Hot Jazz Jam

The Hot Jazz Jam is held every Tuesday night and is hosted by rotating jazz ensembles playing vintage jazz from the 1920s to early swing era in the spirit of New Orleans hot jazz for dancers & jazz lovers alike. The later set jam sessions are open to musical guests & moderated by the band-lead of the night.

Your participation directly supports performing musicians and provides a dynamic environment to hone their craft by playing with other musicians and dancers. When possible, we are open to guest musicians for a full hot jazz jam session set.

Our events are created for musicians, dancers, and jazz lovers alike. Please spread the word and join us for an evening of live music, jamming, dancing, and fun!

Lloyd’s 90th Birthday Hot Jazz Festival

Lloyd Arntzen is Vancouver’s undisputed Grandfather of Jazz and in 2017 he turned 90! To celebrate Lloyd and his life in jazz, the Vancity Hot Jazz Society, with contributions from the Vancouver Dixieland Jazz Society, threw a giant Birthday Party.

Thank you to everyone who made Lloyd’s 90th Birthday Hot Jazz Festival a success. Keep an eye out for up coming events by the Vancity Hot Jazz Society.

Soon you can check out beautiful photos and video of Lloyd’s 90th.

Thanks!

The Vancity Hot Jazz Society would like to thank the generous people and organizations who helped make Lloyd’s 90th Birthday Hot Jazz Festival a reality. The music was the most wonderful hot jazz imaginable and the audience could not have been more enthusiastic.

More than 20 volunteers put in untold hours to run this one day festival, Dominique Melancon, Reza Assar, Tien Le, Emmanuel Guevarra, Jenny Lee, Kayden Gordon, Ania Budko, Camille Preville, Katie Tang, Ben MacRae, Tynan Rollo, Berna Salman, Chloe Sharpe, Cloe Logan, Ashley Whitehead, Mary Jean Cameron, Luke Parkinson, Lucas Kendall, and Melissa Fong – a wonderful group of folks we could not do without. Ginormous thanks to Joel Schwarz, our dynamite MC, who lead us through a full day of jazz and Dave Henderson, who engineered a day of tremendous live music. Special thanks go to our major sponsors, the Vancouver Dixieland Jazz Society and the White Rock Traditional Jazz Society. Thanks must also go to Granville Island Brewery who supported our bar and to White Spot for delicious birthday cakes. To our generous donors, thank you for your support.

One final round of applause goes to all the entertainers who made the fabulous music we enjoyed, the astonishing Three Generations Jazz Band, awe-inspiring Blackstick, and all the incredibly talented musicians, young and old, who joined in. And last but not least, a very Happy 90th Birthday to our very own local jazz hero, Lloyd Arntzen. Thank you for playing six hours of the finest jazz we have ever known.